“A former prime minister of Finland once blamed Apple Inc. for torpedoing two of his country’s biggest industries — mobile phones and paper mills,” Giles Turner reports for Bloomberg. “Now Stora Enso Oyj, one of Europe’s largest paper and packaging makers, has become a key supplier to the iPhone maker, according to documents published last week.”
“The tie-up wasn’t always on the cards. In 2014, then prime minister Alexander Stubb accused the iPad of killing Finland’s paper industry, which is dominated by Stora and UPM-Kymmene Oyj,” Turner reports. “While Nokia is no longer rivaling Apple as a phone-maker, Stora hasn’t done that badly. Since Stubb publicly lamented its fate, Stora’s shares are up 150 percent.”
“More than a third of its sales now come from consumer board and packaging solutions, up from a fifth two decades ago,” Turner reports. “Every year Apple lists its top suppliers, and companies including Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. remain on the list. Regardless, the current deal is likely to be sizable. This year is the first time Stora has made the list since Apple began publishing it in 2012.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple taketh away and Apple giveth.
SEE ALSO:
Finland’s prime minister: Apple to blame for country’s downgrade – October 13, 2014
Finnish Prime Minister: ‘Steve Jobs took our jobs’ – July 7, 2014